I doubt that such a link will ever exist. It is a hobby to me. The idea of the OPP is that you can build the boards yourself. The boards were designed using all through hole parts so the boards could easily be assembled by the end user. I built a couple sets of boards for people in hopes of getting feedback on the documentation that I wrote.

Wolfmarsh is 100% correct. Both FAST and PROC would work for you, and pick whichever one that you feel more comfortable and like the information in their user groups. If you know somebody who has used either of those solutions, it might sway you one way or the other. You will have a lot of questions at the start, so look into how easy information is to glean from their respective documentation. My feeling is that PROC documentation is a little more mature since they have been around longer and more individuals have used their stuff to build a machine. Since FAST project is a little newer, the documentation may not be as mature, but the FAST guys may be more responsive in answering questions since they realize it.

The OPP hardware is going through a redesign at this moment so I wouldn't suggest that one. (The chosen processor package has been End Of Life'd and the processors that I have for the current design are reserved in case people using the OPP hardware want to expand their systems, or want replacement cards). When the redesign is done, the goal is to have blank boards which can be purchased, and a readily available BOM (from Mouser and Digikey) so the parts can be purchased locally. The end user then solders the through hole parts themselves. The intent is not to force people to order boards themselves unless they are so inclined.

Forgot to mention that an LCD screen is probably the cheapest option (not the more expensive option). It was significantly cheaper for me to add an LCD for scoring vs going with an LED DMD or displays. The curse is that an LCD is that much more difficult to fill vs individual displays or a DMD.

Aaron is correct. Don't damn a technology because somebody did a first implementation that didn't work well. If there are ground loops or an incorrect grounding scheme, lots of funky things can occur, and noise issues will be exacerbated.

It really depends a lot on how the machine is wired. Is the power or return for the solenoids running in the same bundle as the data signal wire for the LEDs? If those are separated or in different bundles, it seems like there shouldn't be many issues. Is the machine grounded properly and keeping the solenoid grounds separated from the signal/digital grounds. Is the grounding for the machine in a star formation to reduce the noise? Are the solenoids being driven by FETs or Darlingtons? (FETs have faster rising edges, so they induce more voltage on wires run in parallel).

All of the flickering issues using shift registers to drive LED bulbs that happened in my machine, have been caused by an impedence mismatch between the output driver, and the input receiver and having a long run of wire between them. The wire acts as an antenna and can amplify the edges because of reflected waves. I needed to add series terminating resistors on these lines. If a series LED strip is split, and the wires between the split are long (6 inches or more), a series terminating resistor may need to be added on the data signal wire.

My issues were not caused by induced voltage from kicking the solenoids. I ran the signal wires in the same bundle as the solenoid power, and then I separated the signal wires into a separate bundle and ran the same test. I saw extra clock edges in both cases. While separating the wires didn't make a difference in my case...it is definitely the right thing to do to separate solenoid power/grounds wires from digital power ground wires.

I will have more data on using the series LEDs in the next couple of months. Is a single series LED (or neopixel) bright enough to light up an insert, or will they need to be cut apart and doubled up to get it bright enough? Does the light need to be diffused, and if so, what should be used to diffuse the light to get an even insert lighting?

Sorry for reviving a dead thread, but this might be the most appropriate location since many homebrew pinball makers probably looked at this thread.

This Friday (7/8/2016) at 4:00 pm there is a homebrew pinball panel at Pintastic in Sturbridge, MA. Michael Ocean (programmer for Buffy and Cannon Lagoon for Multimorphic), John Manuelian aka Linoleum (prototyped Haunted Cruise, Tale of the Dragon, and started Pixel Barrage), and Hugh Spahr (SharpeShooter 3 and the Open Pinball Project). Dave Marston will be MC'ing the panel.

I'll give away a free set of OPP boards (up to 20) for the best homebrew idea as judged by Michael Ocean. (I've never met Michael, but I hope he doesn't mind me signing him up to judge a little 5 minute contest.) If you bring a notebook with a sketch in it you will probably win. Just sayin'.